ribs on a shallow Weber


 
D

Dupree

TVWBB Fan
In need of your collective wisdom:

Long story short I am 6 mos into a 2yr engagement in Madrid Spain and had to leave my two Weber Bullets with friends in the States. My wife has met a couple that lives down the street (he is from France, she is from Oregon) and they want me to show them how to do Ribs on their Weber Compact Kettle.

Now I have made ribs on the Bullet and Ribs on my One Touch Gold with fair to middling results (but head and shoulders above anything you can get in MOST restruants.

I have not seen this Compact kettle in person but I imagine the catch here is that the bowl is very shallow making it even more difficult for indirect heat to cook the ribs slow and low.

I will be cooking for 6 adults and already plan on rolling the ribs. So any tips that you can provide regarding cooking methods/recipes etc. for this environment would be most appreciative...

my plan here is to use this as an opportunity to convince these folks that they need to buy the weber bullet, as
1) I don't have the room
2) I have 2 already
3) They cost 400 Euros here before shipping (at least in the one shop I found one).

Thanks in Advance.
 
I'm pretty sure that is just the One touch silver 18 inch (45 cm is 18 inches). What that means is it will be pretty much the same as what you do on the one touch gold at home. I wouldn't worry to much about the bowl being much more shallow than what your used too.

Basically I would cook them indirect, shooting for about 275 at the lid (not worrying if it got a little hire if I was doing back ribs), vent placed over the ribs not the fire. Timing would depend on how big the racks are. I would start with very few lit coals, proably about 10 on the high end and a decent stack of unlit under them on the opposite side of the grill as the ribs, careful not to put any unlit or lit coals too close to the ribs. The number of racks would also (obviously!). Rolling them is a decent idea and should work fine assuming your doing about four racks. I would rotate them as I went to try and have them all finished at about the same time. I would also foil. Remember once they are in foil you can lay the packages on top of each other. I have never had any detrimental effects from this.

For recipes it's hard to say, what kind of food do your friends normally like?

Have fun in Spain, it's certainly a beautiful place!

Clark
 
Thanks Clark ::tries to come up with National Lampoons joke but fails miserably::

Not sure about their tastes, as I just met the husband today and the wife I have only met a few times here and there while picking up my wife and daughter.

Still going through the threads here for ideas, for sure I will have a batch of Miss Piggy on hand along with some Kruger Slaw and Kerry's Apple Pie Baked Beans.
 
Dupree,

If you haven't yet, please read my friend Sal DeTraglia's quest for barbecue in Spain. Start here and follow the links back to his attempts at a flower pot smoker. Few things on the internet are as entertaining.

I've always had good luck smoking ribs on my 22 inch Weber. The compact version you have available looks to be a challenge, but by controlling temperature and airflow, you should be successful.

I'm looking forward to your report.

Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clark Deutscher:
I'm pretty sure that is just the One touch silver 18 inch (45 cm is 18 inches). What that means is it will be pretty much the same as what you do on the one touch gold at home. I wouldn't worry to much about the bowl being much more shallow than what your used too. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unfortunately this is not the case. The compact is only sold here in Europe (I believe) and it is indeed shallower, much shallower. When I first moved over here from the states I found one a a store for dirt cheap (floor model) so I picked it up. I ended up giving it away because it was just too shallow to do anything with. There was literally about 1-2 inches between cooking surface and the top of the coals. Its a cheaper unit offered by weber to entice europeans who are used to open grills (no-lids). I now cook mostly on a 18.5" OTS.
you can see it here and compare it to the normal kettle http://www.weberbbq.co.uk/Barbecues.aspx
Works great for steaks and snausages. I did do a few indirect loins but it was not a fun experience.

Perhaps you could do a single rack if you keep the amount of charcoal super low, just a single handful of briquettes and feed it periodically. I think that would be too much trouble with lump.
 
If you can't do indirect due to the grills limitations, you can do them direct. YOu'll need a low-medium fire. Flip 'em every 5 minutes until the meat's pulled back 1/4 from the bone. They'll b e tender with a bit of a tug.

Only do this with backs, not spares.
 
Dupree
I am guessing that the Compact is the same as they sell in Australia as an entry level.
The problem is that the fire is a lot closer to the grill and hence burnin cal occur on the edges.
Sit the rib rack on an inverted drip pan. Or, some foil on each side to make a heat deflector so that you don't get direct heat on the edges. Problem easily fixed.

Cheers
 
I see in all the links you guys are posting the One Touch Platinum is still being produced? Why is it not available in the states? Alot of guys on here look for the table to put the WSM in. Do you think Weber would sell you the table?
 
Well, based on another thread I saw regarding smoking a butt and ribs on a SJ i am feeling good about my chances, however, the BBQ just got postponed so I will have to wait.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Robert Clark:
I see in all the links you guys are posting the One Touch Platinum is still being produced? Why is it not available in the states? Alot of guys on here look for the table to put the WSM in. Do you think Weber would sell you the table? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
well, funny you should ask. I surprisingly just bought one in my own Fourth of July celebration. I asked they guy about it since I also thought they had discontinued them. well, they are discontinued... but you can still find them around in europe because they can't move them so quickly. You can imagine a "made in the USA" product is even more expensive after being shipped to europe. They go for a lot here (don't ask what I just spent). So they have not run down their stock yet at the warehouses.
http://smokingbottle.wordpress...5/economic-stimulus/
 
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